Relay for Life a Success

There were fewer teams than in past years, but the amount of money raised was just as significant at this year's Relay for Life.

About 15 teams of walkers strolled or ran the roads around Pither's Point Park for a 12 hour period late Friday night and early Saturday morning to collect over $40 thousand dollars in donations for the Canadian Cancer Society.

Committee member John Homer says it was a great effort.

"The number was quite good for the number of teams we had," says Homer. "I'm pretty excited, pretty proud of every one that raised every penny right down to the head shaving to the $5 luminaries to the single dollar donation."

The Canadian Cancer Society's regional fundraising coordinator Margaret Saville says some of that money will go towards finding a cure.

"We're no longer looking for the needle in the haystack, " says Saville. "We've found the needle. We're just looking how to thread the needle. With stem cell research, we can now locate the mutant genes that cause cancer. Treatments will now become a medication you take on a daily basis. People will live with cancer like they live with diabetes."

The more than $300 thousand raised by Relay for Life events across northwestern Ontario will also be used to fund a variety of programs used by cancer patients in the region.